Rejuvenated and Revived

Have you ever needed your lamp refilled? You don't know? Well, let me ask you this....have you heard of the parable of the Ten Virgins? Let me tell you what I know. As a kid my grandmother had a plaque sitting in her living room with an illustration of the parable of the Ten Virgins. I read through it probably fifty times over the years and I never really got it....until I was much older. Let me see if I can tell you what I have learned. See....there were these ten women. They were invited to this swanky wedding. It was an evening wedding and all were required to bring an oil burning lamp to light their own way. The time of the wedding was a little vague so the women were forced to wait around for the groom to appear....all the while burning precious oil. Five of the women were wise and thought to bring extra oil to refill their lamps....should they need it. The other five were foolish and did not take the time to prepare themselves properly. When the groom arrived, the five women with enough oil were allowed into the wedding....the five less prepared women were denied entrance. Though they tried to borrow some oil from the other women, they were refused. The five wise and prepared women had only enough oil for themselves. If they shared their oil then none of them would have enough for the entire wedding. And so it is with us. We are given opportunities to fill our lamps with the things we need as women to be wise and prepared....spiritually. The parable teaches us to prepare today to meet God. We need enough oil in our reserves to help get us through this life until it is time for us to return home to Heaven. If we are truly wise daughters we will not only fill our lamps but help those around us fill theirs. Now....that being said....last weekend my lamp was given a much needed fill.
Heather and I attended Time Out For Women in Minneapolis. It was awesome. We had such a good time. We aren't much for driving in heavy traffic so even the thought of a road trip to The Cities was intimidating....but the lure of Time Out For Women was just too enticing.
The view from our hotel was amazing. We were on the fourteenth floor in down town Minneapolis.
The diversity of the people and the unique buildings made it fun to just stop and look.
We are funny girls indeed!!! hahahaha
On Friday night I didn't bring my camera because I assumed that photos would not be permitted. WRONG!! So I had to make due with my phone. Not good....but at least I had that. This is Michael McLean. He is a fabulous song writer, composer, author and movie writer. The man is amazing. One of my favorite Michael McLean projects is The Forgotten Carols. Reading the book and listening to the cd was one fun tradition we started while the kids were still pliable. We attended the play when it came to Idaho Falls. My kids still talk about the powerful story of The Forgotten Carols.
Cherie Call was a musical presenter. Her songs were uplifting and inspired me to be better. I loved hearing about how the songs came about. We also heard form Brad and Debi Wilcox. They were an awesome team encouraging us to laugh at the lemons life throws at as. Their message was...."If you can laugh at it, you can live with it".
On Saturday we got up early and headed back across the skywalk to the Convention Center. We were able to look around at the vendors (Deseret Book mostly) and pick up a few things. When we were in line waiting to go in....Mary Ellen Edmunds was walking through the line greeting people. At the time I really didn't know who she was....but Heather did. She was so excited. MEE stopped and chatted with us and I soon realized why Heather liked her so much. She is genuine and honestly loves what she does and the women that she writes for. On Saturday we heard from Deanne Flynn, Brent Top, Kim Nelson (a Pocatello native) and Mary Ellen Edmunds (MEE). Their messages were different but the impression I kept getting was to not be so hard on myself and that NO ONE is perfect.
We tend to see the best of people we admire and then judge ourselves by the worst traits we think are ours. What a vicious and counter productive trap that is!
Using humor and reality (everyone has weakness and faults) we can build stronger selves and have a steady supply of oil in our lives. We can help those around us only after our lamp is full....and we have some in reserve.

Honestly....this was the most fun girls weekend I've had in a REALLY long time. Heather and I found our way home....without a map!!! Lucky for us and our keen sense of direction!! We discovered that we make a great driving team and that we truly are FABULOUS!!